The present invention relates to poultry eviscerating apparatus, and includes improvements in automatic apparatus for use in poultry processing plants.
Chickens and other fowl being slaughtered for market must be eviscerated not only because consumers demand eviscerated poultry, but also because the United States Department of Agriculture inspection requirements include inspection of the viscera of slaughtered fowl to prevent diseased poultry from entering the market. Accordingly large quantities of poultry are eviscerated daily, typically in highly automated processing plants.
In such plants, the carcasses are transported from one processing station to another by means of a conveyor mechanism in which the hocks, the distal ends of the legs, are suspended from a shackle attached to the conveyor. Evisceration is performed at a suitable station.
Many machines have been devised for eviscerating poultry being transported along a conveyor line. Examples of such conveyorized systems are shown in the following U.S. patents:
______________________________________ U.S. PAT. NO. NAMED INVENTOR ______________________________________ 3,474,492 Viscolosi 3,555,593 Scheier 3,653,093 Scheier 3,663,991 Harben, Jr. 3,685,096 Harben, Jr. 3,798,708 Scheier 3,902,221 Harben, Jr. et al. ______________________________________
Another eviscerating machine which cooperates with a conveyor line is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,979,793 issued Sept. 14, 1976 to Jacobus E. Hazenbroek. The entire disclosure thereof is incorporated herein by reference. In the Hazenbroek machine the chickens are transported by the conveyor to the machine, which is a carousel structure located on the conveyor line. The carcasses are brought to the machine suspended by their hocks, with their backs toward the carousel. As the carcasses travel around the carousel, a clamping fork elevates underneath the carcasses to support the breasts thereof. An eviscerating tool then enters the body cavity of the carcass from the rear, through the vent or an enlargement thereof and scoops the viscera out, so that they can be inspected and severed from the rest of the carcass.
Another machine employing a carousel is the Evisomate Eviscerator manufactured by Lindholst and Company A/S, dk-8280 Trige, Denmark. In the Lindholst machine, the eviscerating tool has a shaft and a loop arrangement. The shaft extends vertically downwardly toward the vent of the chicken and the loop is angled back towards the carousel of the machine. The shaft can be pivoted to cause its upper end to lean toward the machine, thereby bringing the loop close to vertical. In this position the tool is lowered into the body cavity of the carcass. On its downward movement, the tool scrapes and loosens the viscera from the breast side of the cavity. As the tool moves downwardly, the shaft is pivoted towards vertical so that the loop angles back toward the carousel. Then the tool is moved vertically upwardly, causing the end of the loop to scrape the inside of the back, along the ribs and backbone, loosening and removing the viscera. At the top of its travel, the tool pivots back so that the upper end of the shaft is angled toward the carousel, releasing the viscera. The viscera droop over the back of the carcass and are available for inspection and severing. The present invention is uniquely adapted to replace the eviscerating tool of the prior Lindholst machines.
One such tool previously used in machines such as the Hazenbroek machine is depicted in U.S. Pat. No. Des. 256,802 to Hazenbroek.
Other means have, of course, been used to eviscerate birds, notably hand operated devices, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,984,562 to Ashby; U.S. Pat. No. 2,508,957 to Lynn; U.S. Pat. No. 2,533,455 to Finney; and U.S. Pat. No. 2,547,608 to Toti et al.
It is important when eviscerating poultry not to damage the viscera, because ruptured organs can contaminate the meat, and are themselves less marketable as food products. Accordingly, the complete removal of the viscera without damage is of prime importance. The most valuable of the viscera of a chicken is the liver, and so its removal without damage is especially desirable.
Prior apparatus has not been completely satisfactory in this respect. One primary problem has been the irregular shape of the body cavity of the poultry. Prior eviscerating tools have attempted without success to accommodate the shape of this body cavity. The present invention uniquely fits the shape of the body cavity to allow the complete removal of the viscera without damage in the vast majority of cases. As a result the present invention substantially increases the yield of undamaged livers.
Additionally, prior art devices have had problems in achieving lung removal. With the present invention, complete lung removal is accomplished in up to 96% of the carcasses.